SpaceX to lay off 10 per cent of its workforce

By Samantha Masunaga Los Angeles Times Fri., Jan. 11, 2019 LOS ANGELES—SpaceX will lay off about 10 per cent of its more than 6,000 employees, a person familiar with the matter said Friday. The company responded to Los Angeles Times questions with a statement: “To continue delivering for our customers and to succeed in developing interplanetary spacecraft and a global space-based internet, SpaceX must become a leaner company. Either of these developments, even when attempted separately, have bankrupted other organizations. This means we must part ways with some talented and hardworking members of our team.” Hawthorne-based SpaceX is offering a minimum of eight weeks’ pay and other benefits to those affected, according to an email sent Friday to employees by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. The company will also provide assistance with career coaching, resume help and job searches, according to the email. Even with SpaceX’s ramp-up of satellite launches —21 in 2018, up from 18 the year before —it has occasionally cut its workforce. Last summer, the company fired some senior managers at the company’s Redmond, Wash., office, because of disagreements over the pacing of the development and testing of its Starlink satellite program. SpaceX makes most of its money from commercial and national security satellite launches, as well as two NASA contracts, one a multibillion-dollar deal to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and the other up to $2.6-billion (U.S.) to develop a capsule that will deliver astronauts to the space station. Article Continued Below The first launch… [Read full story]